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According to a news release by Datamark, a market research firm which was founded in 1982, Sandoz wants to expand its presence in Brazilian Market.

World leader in biosimilar medicines, Sandoz, the generics arm of pharma giant Novartis, already sells the growth hormone Omnitrope since June last year in Brazil and has two other products approved for cancer treatment in European and American markets, in addition to a pipeline with eight to ten products under development in this segment.

In an interview with Randall Hyer, Global Medical Affairs Head at Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals – said that biosimilar drugs have an important role to increase access of the population to treat serious illnesses, like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, for example. “The medicines [biological] are still very expensive. The biosimilar drugs have a solution to this problem, providing the same high biological quality and greater access.”

In Brazil, the Government is supporting two newly established companies, the Bionovis (joint venture between Aché, EMS, Hypermarcas and Chemical Union) and Orygen (Biolab, Eurofarma, Cristália and Libbs), wishing to be the first national companies to develop biosimilars. The Bionovis already submitted to the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Anvisa) its first product to treat rheumatoid arthritis, said Odnir Finotti, President of the company.

The market begins to gain momentum in the country. “In addition to the published standards [for the production of biologics and biosimilars], the legal framework is already targeted,” said Dirceu Barbano, President of Anvisa. In Brazil, the biosimilars are treated as known biologics. “The criteria for approval of Anvisa’s medicines are advanced and technical basis,” he said.

Pioneer in biosimilars, Sandoz began making his first research in 1996, said Hyer. With global share of 51% in this market, the company market its medicines in more than 50 countries. According to Randall Hyer, these products benefit more than 50 million patients. Currently Sandoz has three biosimilars in the global market.

Hyer believes that over the next five years, seven of the top ten pharmaceutical drugs marketed worldwide will be biologics. In Brazil, Sandoz is installed in Cambé, Paraná. This factory manufactures and develops three hormones that are exported to six countries of Europe. In the past six months, the company sold 20 million units abroad.

According to Sandoz, Omnitrope, the first biossimilar of the company in the country, promoted a savings of $ 2 million to the patient, if compared to the spendings with treatment with a biological, in a year.

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